Improving Asset Performance with Six Sigma
APM is an acronym for Asset Performance Management. Manufacturing facilities around the world are more interested than ever before in maximizing the output of their assets, while minimizing the long term cost of ownership. Six Sigma is a widely used methodology that can be effective in attacking and eliminating defects in order to reduce costs and increase output. Although the phrase Six Sigma is widely recognized, many people do not have a good understanding of what it is and what it can do if implemented and applied well. This may be due to the many consulting firms that have built distinguishing variations into their Six Sigma product, or it may be that statistical jargon has left many of us feeling left behind. This paper explains the Six Sigma methodology in basic terms at a high level. It goes on to show how Six Sigma is an excellent fit for Maintenance organizations that are working to make improvements.
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 Living Strategies for Reliability and Optimization
Initiatives to manage and optimize asset reliability are often considered an aspect of the maintenance management role in an organization.  This is an unfortunate circumstance because reliability affects the business directly and should be considered a key component to operational excellence, not just maintenance excellence.

Operationally, reliability may be defined as an asset performing desired performance without degradation.  The asset should meet the operational needs of the process.  If the asset does not meet desired performance then it is considered unreliable, even if the operational performance demand is outside the bounds of its design specifications.
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 Operating, Maintenance and Financial Improvement Utilizing Generation Management
Deregulation, restructuring and merger and acquisition activities have created profitability and performance issues within the power industry.  These changes require that companies take a fresh look at some of their most established work processes. “Generation Management” is a term we will use to describe the process of integrating maintenance, operational, planning and financial data to support reliability analysis and drive continuous improvement strategies. This paper will discuss the ways that existing processes may be streamlined and enhanced and provides a roadmap to demonstrate how coordinating critical generation information across organizational boundaries can lead to financial success.
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 Process Safety Through Improved Asset Performance Management - Beyond Personal Safety
To be successful, asset-intensive manufacturing businesses need to achieve profit levels that will satisfy their primary stakeholders while maintaining safety performance that is more than just acceptable. 

This paper demonstrates how a top-down approach to managing the performance and reliability of assets can help companies effectively respond to the findings and recommendations of the Baker Report.
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 System Reliability Analysis and Improvement
Manufacturing professionals often have doubts about the quantity and quality of available data and information they have to identify reliability and asset performance. Whether identifying opportunities or reporting the progress of improvement initiatives, engineers, technicians and managers are often challenged to provide convincing evidence about the direction of reliability in their areas of responsibility. This paper describes the importance and use of asset performance management software and reliability data as a core technology for making reliability improvements that ensure success. In recent years reliability growth and distribution analyses tools are being used to identify trends and patterns in unreliability and production data. Examples of these are included in this paper.
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 Tracking Production Losses - A critical step to maximizing asset performance
Guy Gimlen, former Maintenance & Reliability Best Practices team leader with ChevronTexaco, outlines the strategy that has yielded significant sustainable improvements through the collection, analysis and utilization of production and equipment failure data to build effective asset strategies. Conservative estimates indicate that these efforts are generating $5 to $8 million in reliability benefits per year and continue to increase each year of operation.
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 Using KPIs and Scorecards to Drive Asset Strategies
In order to define a complete set of performance measures, companies must ensure that simple, workable measures are in place. The real challenge is not only to select those indicators that satisfy budgetary goals, but also to build the activities needed to meet the levels of asset performance required to meet strategic goals. Selecting the right measures is vital for effectiveness. Even more importantly, the metrics must be built into a performance measurement system that allows individuals and groups to understand how their behaviors and activities are fulfilling the overall corporate goals.
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